Zero One Ten is a design studio. We work on a wide range of projects—some for clients, some for ourselves.
There is a saying that goes something like this:
Graphic designers want to do product design.
Product designers want to do architecture.
Architects want to do graphic design.
We like doing all of it. And we think that’s a good thing.
Avik’s background was in product design. Rich’s background was in graphic design and illustration. We met in architecture school at Columbia and started a long back-and-forth that eventually became Zero One Ten.
We have a weekend brainstorm in San Francisco. We map out ideas for toys, furniture, a social network, a cartoon, and some architecture. The name of the company is obvious, but we also like that 01 looks like a lowercase "a" for Avik, and 10 looks a bit like a lowercase "r" for Rich.
We launch Rock Band, the first watch band designed for the iPod nano. We wake up the following day to a crashed server and one email from an Apple accessories distributor in Europe. We are confused. It isn't until we see Rock Band on all of our favorite blogs that we realize what had happened—and why our server keeps crashing.
We film Rich's kids pretending to be the executives of a new company called Walrus Toys, promoting their line of Chimeras. ("Avik" means "walrus" in the Inuit language.) We think "chimera" is a common word that people know how to pronounce. It's not.
We buy the first of many laser cutters and start Portland Laser Company. Cole becomes the unofficial (and somewhat unwilling) face of the brand.
We finally move out of Avik's cool loft apartment (in an old masonic temple) and open a store/studio on Division St. with walls on wheels. We also flirt with changing the name to LVLY. The name doesn't stick.
Andrea Rangel (@andrearangelknits) buys a Wrist Ruler. Then Tolt Yarn and Wool stocks them. Then we do a collaboration with Fringe Supply Co.. Then we have to make a new brand so Wrist Ruler doesn't completely take over the ILOVEHANDLES website.
The dream has always been to do a combination of graphic design, product design, and architecture. In 2020, we completed Shelley, the first architecture project under the brand Zero One Ten. The concept was to peel back the meadow, slide a house underneath it, and put the meadow back down on top of it.